Aquarius II

This article is about the galaxy. For the search and rescue vessel, see Aquarius 2. For the computer, see Aquarius II (computer).
Aquarius ll
Observation data
ConstellationAquarius
Distance180,000 ly
Characteristics
Size160 pc
Notable featuresDifficult detection
Other designations
Aquarius 2, AQU 2, Aqu ll

Aquarius ll (also Aquarius 2, AQU 2 or Aqu ll) is a mildly elliptical dwarf satellite galaxy to the Milky Way located around 110 kiloparsecs from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius. It has a size of 160 parsecs. Aquarius ll is currently moving away from the galactic center of the Milky Way. This galaxy contains many old red giant branch stars that are predominantly metal poor.

It is located just 9 kiloparsecs from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Whether this is an association or coincidence is uncertain. Other dwarf galaxies discovered likely do have some association with the Magellanic Clouds.

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